$5 million worth of cannabis seized by police

CANNABIS plants with an estimated potential street value of almost $5 million were seized on the Northern Rivers last week as part of an ongoing operation targeting cannabis cultivation.

Between Monday and Thursday last week, police from the State Crime Command's Drug Squad and Richmond Local Area Command, and PolAir, were deployed throughout the area to identify illegal crop sites as part of the cannabis eradication program.

Almost 2500 plants, with an estimated potential street value of $4.9 million, were seized.

Six people were issued with future court attendance notices for cultivating prohibited plants.

Richmond LAC police and officers from State Crime Command this week took part in the Cannabis Eradication Program.Richmond LAC

On Friday the plants were certified by an agronomist from the NSW Department of Primary Industries before being destroyed under a drug destruction order at Kyogle.

The cannabis eradication program has been running since the mid-1980s and, to date, has prevented cannabis with an estimated potential street value of more than $300 million from reaching the streets.

The program is generally operational during cannabis-growing season, which stretches from the late spring through summer and into early autumn.

Further rounds of the program will take place in other parts of NSW during the coming months.